At the heart of Japan's oldest student residence, a symbol of freedom

The Yoshida Dormitory at the prestigious Kyoto University is self-managed by the students. Despite obvious signs of disrepair, they cherish it as a bastion of free thought, in the face of the strict hierarchy that dominates Japanese society.

For several decades, its occupants have even been fighting to preserve this freedom against the University, owner of the place, which has repeatedly threatened to close it down and cites security reasons.

Under the terms of an agreement reached last year, students must vacate the 113-year-old wooden residential building by the end of March to allow for repairs. But many fear it will have lost its soul by the time they return.

"I feel at ease in this dilapidated place. It is imbued with humanity - a place that is too sterile would seem lifeless to me," says Ueda, a 39-year-old student, clutching his favorite stuffed animal, a turtle.

The hundred or so students who live there share games of mah-jong, video games and shisha in this decrepit setting with broken windows, rusty toilets and omnipresent cobwebs.

Personal initiative and participatory democracy are key to managing this space. Students organize general assemblies to unanimously agree on the rules and day-to-day operations. They recruit new members themselves.

Everyone expresses themselves freely, without distinction of nationality or gender. Even the weight of seniority, a pillar of Japanese society, has long since been abandoned to put newcomers on an equal footing with those who have been there longer.

In a traditional university-run dormitory, "our lives would be easier, because we wouldn't have to think for ourselves," 23-year-old Rintaro Yoshida told AFP.

But "instead of blindly accepting what already exists, we can modify living spaces or design new systems here, as long as we manage to convince everyone," he adds.

"Spiritual pillar"

The Yoshida Residence consists of two residential buildings and a graffiti-covered dining hall. Although most residents sleep in a newer, cleaner section, they regularly frequent the "gento," the "old, unsanitary building," which they like to describe as their "spiritual base."

With a monthly rent of 2.500 yen (about 15 euros), it is also a boon for students in precarious situations.

The spirit of self-governance is perfectly embodied in this old retro building, whose walls display resistance slogans such as "No to the closure of the dormitory!" or philosophical maxims of the Marxist Antonio Negri.

And in this quest for independence, the students, who themselves demanded reparations, opposed Kyoto University, a prestigious institution that counts 10 Nobel Prize winners among its alumni.

In the 1980s, violent protests resulted in injuries and arrests. Tensions resurfaced in 2017 when the institution ordered a complete evacuation due to seismic vulnerability.

The university even sued a group of students in 2019, before this long saga finally came to an end last August: the authorities pledged to carry out "seismic renovations" and the students agreed to relocate temporarily.

"Like my parents' house"

The most vocal critics believe that these works are a pretext to regain control of the dormitory - a point on which the university has refused to comment, simply stating that the details of the renovation are "under review".

A rumor claims that some of the wood used for construction came from Taiwan, back when the island was colonized by Japan.

For Harumitsu Harada, a student of political philosophy, the traces of this "negative history" of the country must not be erased.

A former resident, Yuichi Sakamoto, 39, fears the worst: "I can easily imagine a fence being suddenly erected to raze the buildings and replace them with a futuristic structure, which would be deplorable," he told AFP.

A former student, he now lives alone nearby, but returns almost every evening for a drink. "It's like my parents' house," he concludes.